Welcome to Your Favorites, where you have the opportunity to share your travel experiences with fellow Internet Travelers around the world.

Island Cruises

MS Island Escape

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Duncan Pettett
# previous cruises: 1
Date of Trip: August 27, 2002
Itinerary: Mediterranean

This was the first Cruise that my Wife and I had ever been on. We booked it over 12 months prior to the actual Cruise. We did see several reports prior to going on the Ship which made us a bit worried. However apart from one or two administrative problems the Cruise overall was superb. The Weather which had been awful for most of the Summer turned out to be fantastic for our week, apart from a storm on one night. The crew from Captain Stuart Horne downwards were simply superb, and nothing was too much trouble. Captain Horne made every effort to keep passengers as informed as possible about Weather and a large number of things, and stayed as long as he possibly could in Port to give us as much time sitting in the Sun as he could. The ship was kept spotlessly clean throughout over the week. The Entertainment, Food and Service were fantastic, and great value for money, and we would certainly consider the Island Escape again.

We tended to sunbathe right up at the Bow end of the ship and as high as possible, and always found a free Sun bed. As we like eating outside at home, we ate most of our meals outside in the Beachcomber Restaurant except for one evening in the Oasis Restaurant and one in the Island Restaurant. The Food and Service and Staff in all three was faultless. We preferred the Beachcomber as we could eat out whenever we felt like it and without having to change clothes. We went to one show, a tribute to Andrew Lloyd Weber. The young Male lead singer was awesome. My Wife thought that he had a better voice even than Michael Ball. We thought that there were not enough Staff serving Drinks and that the Staff in the Ocean Theatre serving Drinks were overworked. We thought that the Casino was good value for money. My Wife was over #16 up on the one armed Bandits over two nights, and one lucky lady one the Jackpot twice in ten Minutes, about #1,300 . The Gym was really excellent, with a very good range of equipment. We thought that the Pool area was too busy and noisy, but that was just that we like quieter areas and this is not a criticism of the Pool area.

The food and Service and the Manners and attentiveness of the Staff in all three Restaurants was really excellent, as I have already said. Despite a hard hour in the Gym from 07.00 to 08.00 every day, I gained over a stone in weight in the week. There was so much excellent food available 24 hours a day in the Beachcomber, coupled with the fact that we could just sit and sunbathe there if we wanted to and just go up for a drink or more food whenever we felt like it. We sat out there to after 01.00 am. most nights, dressed in shorts, as the Weather was so warm.

We were in Cabin 9582, which was the rearmost Cabin on the Port side on Golden or No. 9 Deck. We thought that the Cabin was large enough for us. It had a lot of wardrobe space, and the Bathroom was surprisingly large for the size of the cabin. We had an Ice Bucket, Colour TV and Hair Drier. The Cabin had a large Picture Window with a large ledge on which I could sit on and watch out as the Ship approached Port in the early hours. It was kept spotlessly clean by our Cabin Steward. Two things which alarmed me somewhat was the Vibration in the Cabin as the Ship slowed down to meet the speed of the Pilot boat as we entered Harbour. The Vibration was enough to make bottles and glasses skate off of surfaces and knock Shower Gel etc. off of the Bathroom shelves. 11 Cabins were flooded out during the week and Water dripped from the Ceiling on Golden Deck, and I wonder if this was caused by Water Pipe couplings springing open due to this vibration. Like others who have written reviews on the Island Escape , I notice the "wobbling" which started up as the Engines gained speed on Departure and lasted until the Engines were on idle at the next port. One passenger made the remark that it seemed to him as if a main shaft was slightly out of balance. I overheard one of the Engineers who had visited the flooded cabins say that he did not like the constant wobble that the ship had. Also when we were tied up at Dock the Ship occasionally gave a kind of "jerk", despite the fact that we were at rest against the Dockside. Also being directly below the Beachcomber Restaurant meant that about 4 or 5 am in the Morning the sound of the tables above us being rearranged was quite annoying.

As I said the tribute to Andrew Lloyd Weber was fabulous , and as good as anything I had been to in my entire life. The lead male singer was wasted on a Cruise Ship, and I feel that it was only a matter of time before he was "discovered " and got the chance of being a real professional singer and entertainer on the World Stage.

We stopped at Tunis , where we stayed on board as the ship was only there from 07.00 to 12.00. I only went ashore to take some photos and Video clips, and the same at Civitaveccia. We absolutely loved Portofino and Villefranche/ Monte Carlo and both of us thought that these Excursions were really excellent value for money. The guides on each occasion were brilliant and we would certainly return to Portofino and also Santa Marguerita where the Ship docked.

The Ship called at Barcelona on our Anniversary and also the last full day of the Cruise. We went ashore and spent most of the day wandering around Barcelona and totally loved it. I had been to Barcelona many years ago , and was keen to see how it had changed if any. We will probably fly over for a weekend as there are now a number of cheap flights per week from Scotland now. There is so much to see and places to eat and shop. We were tied up across the terminal from the "Bolero", which was first Choice's first Cruise Ship at one time.

We met a number of people who knew people that we met. We sat beside a couple from Paisley near Glasgow, and the Husband met a Cousin on the Ship whom he had not seen for 50 years. Another couple , whom we got friendly with were at the Casino and he turned round to find an ex Colleague of 25 years ago , standing at his side. We became very friendly with this couple, who live near Gatwick Airport. We keep in touch by E-Mail and they hope to come to Gatwick in September to see us when we are there for three hours between flights, en route to France. Although this couple were much wealthier than we were , they had no airs or graces, and were just nice people. One Passenger, a fellow Scot, I am ashamed to say, had to be taken aside and spoken to by some of us, as he was very verbally abusive to the Bar Staff at the Sailaway Bar, as his drink was not cold enough. But we soon put him right as regards his attitude and manners.